Episode 4, Chapter 2:

Quinn knew she needed him around, so she got him back on her good side before they were supposed to leave for their preliminary photo shoot. In the early days, he'd been unintentionally cute when he meant to be sexy. At the height of his fame in the partying world, he'd shed the baby penguin sexless appearance and become the gay bar superstar he never thought he could, but always wanted to be. He helped the costume department choose the right outfit for her and watched from the sidelines as she blew her first big shot.

He could tell how frustrated the photographer and Isabelle Wright got with her cold and stiff poses that had no emotion. Quinn was beautiful, but for something like this, she had no creativity. A pretty face wouldn't make it in the modeling. Statues were pretty to look at, but immobility was not the look her mother's new collection of home décor needed in their first campaign.

During the five-minute break, Kurt came over smiling.

"You look amazing!" he said. She smiled back but didn't say anything. Before she could, he continued, "Just a little thing if you want them to really love you, you need to attack the camera. Just let it go and see where it takes you. Bring out your inner diva."

"Right, absolutely!" Quinn nodded, taking the advice to heart and posing more dramatically. Isabelle, who watched them talk, told the photographer to pick up his camera to get a couple shots. Kurt adjusted her arm position on the fireplace and told her to lie on the couch and be like Rose from the Titanic.

"You know how amazing Leonardo DiCaprio is. Just imagine he's watching!" he said and she recreated the scene accordingly. Isabelle's eyes squinted with approval as the photographer took more shots. Kurt moved around her forcing her to continue to change and be less rigid than she was before. She clearly was starting to have fun with this, but it was still about half as much as Kurt was having seeing her happy.

Her happiness was cut short when Kurt's ringtone played the opening bars of Wicked and he went running to answer it crying out apologies to the workers. "I thought I turned the ringer off," he said ready to answer the phone.

"Don't answer it!" Quinn yelled from where she was. Kurt forgot what he'd planned to do that night, but she hadn't, and she didn't want him leaving her for the Brooklyn nerd. Kurt grinned and ran back without looking at the name and picture that appeared on his phone.


Blaine didn't think he'd been stood up until five minutes after the movie started. He called Kurt twice and both times it was ignored. He hoped Kurt had just been too busy to answer or without reception, but he slowly held he wouldn't be coming on their date. He felt like an idiot all over again. He bought two tickets, but 20 minutes after the movie started, he exchanged them for two tickets to be used at another time. He walked home smacking the tickets into his palm and staring at his feet. He'd dressed in his good clothes too. Now he just felt like an idiot for getting his hopes too high. Maybe from one hour to the next Kurt really had forgotten their date, but that didn't make him feel any better.


Sam got a call with directions to the club that Sebastian was taking him. The spot was out of town so he left Puck's suite to get the car. Puck stopped him before he even got to the door.

"Where are you headed? The fun is just beginning."

"I'm meeting Sebastian. I want to beat the traffic out of here."

"I planned this whole boys' weekend purposely for you, and you're going to bail on me and all these guys because of some guy you haven't talked to in a while, you know nothing about, and when you did know him, he was the worst! You can't trust him!"

"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean I can't. He seemed cool earlier. I just want to do something different."

"You don't like my rager?" Puck asked honestly confused.

"It's great. It's just, I don't want this."

"He's not your friend. Don't be stupid. You don't want to get involved with this guy! You have no idea what he's really up to, Sam. He can be playing you."

"I know you think I'm stupid, and maybe I am, but I can make my own decisions. How about I decide for myself who I spend time with? You're not my only friend, even if I'm the only one you have," he said brutally, poking his chest before marching out. He steamed all the way to the curb and got into the car. From 30 floors above Puck watched him get in the car and knew he wouldn't be enjoying the night he planned.


Burt was watching the news for a change when Blaine walked in. "Well that sure was a fast movie, you've only been gone an hour," he said reading his watch.

"It got postponed, I guess. He didn't show up."

"I'm sure he has a good reason why he didn't show up," he soothed his son. He wasn't the best at it, but he knew his son was sensitive so he'd trained himself to deal with the boy's emotions even though he couldn't handle them much.

"Maybe it is a big joke. We have really great moments when I think we're making progress towards something, and then he does this. I have no idea where I stand with him. Maybe I'm not meant to have a relationship. The only time I tried—it ended, you know." Blaine thought of the last guy he'd liked and how well that ended.

"Whoa, whoa! No, I don't want you bringing that up again. This is nothing like that. Kurt might be a little forgetful, but I really doubt he doesn't care about you. Nothing like what happened before will ever happen again."

Blaine felt nauseated and went into his bedroom. His father stared at the back of his head with sorrowful eyes. Burt understood how badly he'd been torn up about the first boy he'd ever liked. It ended with Blaine in the hospital for three weeks with a broken leg and internalized bleeding that had to be taken care of before he could be brought home. Rachel had cried by her brother's bedside until Blaine had enough strength to tease her. His first love never went to visit him when he was at the hospital. Blaine had already forgiven him and didn't blame him for it.

The two boys had gone to their middle school Sadie Hawkins dance together and were both beaten up just as the event ended. While it should have been a splendid night, it all went wrong just after some older kids saw them holding hands on the sidewalk. After that, the other boy changed schools and disappeared without looking back, Blaine seemed to get over it—he started crushing on Kurt once he changed schools—but on the worst days, his mind went back to the first person he thought he loved, who vanished from his life.

Blaine wanted to get to bed, but he couldn't wrap his mind around it. Sleep would be elusive to him because his mind was running like an already out of breath marathoner nearing the finish line. Sometime around ten o'clock, when he was still staring at the ceiling trying to silence his mind, his ringtone began singing the closing notes of Rent. He picked it up absently.

"Hey Blaine! I just looked at my phone. I'm so, so, so sorry about tonight. I didn't mean to stand you up. I promise! I got caught up with Quinn and this photo shoot thing. I'm sure you'd be really interested in seeing it. I was thinking maybe we could meet their tomorrow."

"I'm not sure we should bother," Blaine muttered.

"What, no! We'll do it. I mean it."

"Kurt, I feel like I heard this before and, you know, I'm not bulletproof. Some things you do may actually hurt me even though it might not register to you that way. I know you don't know me that well, but I'm not like you, not everything just rolls off me like it does you."

"I'm sorry," Kurt said distressed. "I'd come by now if I could. I'll prove to you I'm serious. Come by tomorrow and I swear I'll be there and we'll talk."

"Yeah sure I guess," his voice breaking because being crazy about Kurt was a lot harder than he imagined it would be. He didn't say goodbye. He hung up and turned over in his bed.

Burt knocked only moments later. Blaine wanted to pretend he was asleep so he didn't say anything. His father came in anyway.

"I heard you on the phone. You don't have to pretend with me. I'm sorry about the boy."

Blaine sighed and flipped onto his back.

"I just wish I could understand him better. I would do anything for him, and he clearly doesn't feel that way at all."

"Blaine, you might think you love this boy, but I don't want you throwing yourself around. You are worth more, and if you get to know each other, of course, he'll see that. You don't have to change for him or make your world around him. That won't make you happy… I dated someone like him once. A woman, of course—not your mother—who was not straightforward with how she felt about me; she came from this different world you're talking about. She made me pull my hair out sometimes, which might be why I lost so much hair, and in the end, she was worth it. The time I spent with her was some of my best years."

"What happened?"

"I didn't have a boat to pull me back to shore…"

Blaine exhaled loudly. It could be worth the struggle, but he couldn't let Kurt break him if they didn't work out. His dad wasn't that bad at love advice when he thought about it. He wiped his eyes and nodded to his father. He bowed his head and slipped out of his room. Blaine wondered who this girl was that gave Burt some of his best years, but took his mind off that as he fell asleep dreaming of Kurt.


The rules for a model the day of a photo shoot are similar to those of a patient pre-surgery. No food or drink 12 hours prior, wear comfortable clothing, and make sure your affairs are in order. You never know what could go wrong in a flash.

Quinn found out the bad news in the morning. She wasn't as good as she thought she'd been, and suddenly the professionals were going in a different direction. Her mother, who'd sent her to bed with love and a smile of approval that Quinn hadn't seen in years, just as quickly this morning, brought her back to square one. She wished she'd slept through her mother getting up to head to the shoot because this was so much worse. Of course, she was never what anyone wanted. She could never be someone's first choice. Quinn brushed off her mother who crossed back into her bathroom to spruce up her makeup before taking her purse and sending her daughter a fake air kiss. She shook her head once she left. Her mother was the queen of obliviousness. The girl walked back into her room to get her phone.

"So, it looks like I've been fired from my first modeling gig before it ever got in the air. My mom left for her shoot. We should do something again today. I would say shopping but…who am I kidding?" she frowned at her own stupidity. "Forget that, let's go by and see which skinny twat took my gig," she hung up and walked into her closet. She decided on a simple blue and white Marc by Marc Jacobs Link print dress with a royal blue J. Crew cardigan and cream flats. [Schue Slushied]


The place Sebastian took him to was a shady stripper joint on the border of New York and Connecticut. The green-eyed boy was waiting for him out front.

"You know, when you said different people, I really thought you meant like an underground secret society, not strippers," Sam said disappointedly looking up at the character of a woman on a pole above the sign in neon lights reading 'Scandals'.

"I'm telling you this place is filled with some interesting people," he smiled and escorted him inside where the fun hadn't started yet. When they got to the bar, Sebastian began his story, "I found this place one night in a drunken stupor in the pouring rain. I went inside. The place was done up like a dream. Well, it felt like a dream, but it might have been the molly," he laughed, "Whatever it was, coming here that night changed my life. I've never been the same since. You'll see," he said reaching out to the bartender who seemed to be making their drinks the whole time he was talking. They raised their glasses. "To friends and life-changing experiences!"


~A.N. UH OH! There will be a lot of reveals in the next and final chapter of Episode 4...